WEBSTER CITY - Bob Josten spent 27 years sitting, standing, pacing and yelling from the sideline inside the four walls of Jefferson Gymnasium, but his next trip - and maybe his last trip - to the hallowed building might be the most memorable.
It's his chance to say goodbye on a night when he will be the guest of honor.
Josten, the head boys' basketball coach at Webster City from 1976-2003, will be inducted into the Webster City High School Athletics Hall of Fame tonight during the Lynx North Central Conference doubleheader against Clarion-Goldfield.
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DFJ file photo by Troy Banning
In this March 2009 photo, Bob Josten (right), alongside wife Kathy Josten, accepts entrance into the Iowa High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame. He will be inducted into the Webster City High School Athletics Hall of Fame tonight.
It will be the final girls/boys double-dip in Jeff Gym, which is in its final season as the primary athletic facility for the Lynx winter teams. Varsity sports will move to the new gymnasium that is nearing completion at the high school next season.
"(Going into the WCHS Hall of Fame) would have been special no matter when it took place, but at this time it adds a little more because it is the last time in Jeff Gym," Josten said. "It's a great privilege and honor because there are so many outstanding coaches and players from Webster City who have contributed to the great athletic success that the community has had."
Josten, who was inducted into the Iowa High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in March of 2009, was a coach for 32 years in all and piled up an overall record of 368-235, but it was his time in Webster City that built his statewide profile.
The Lynx captured eight conference championships under his direction - the last came in his final season in 2003 - and they reached the Class 3A state tournament twice, first in 1985 and again in 2001.
But Josten refuses to take the bulk of the credit for those successes. He says without quality athletes and assistant coaches, his Webster City teams wouldn't have delivered night after night, year after year.
"I think this is more a tribute to all of the great young men and great players that I was lucky enough to coach and be associated with over the years," he said. "Regardless of whose Hall of Fame it is, it doesn't happen unless you're blessed with outstanding young athletes and outstanding assistant coaches. And I was definitely blessed with a lot of them in all of the years that I coached."